Referee of the final, Néstor Pitana laughs with Deyverson: ‘I told him it was me’

The scene has been repeated several times and is in the memory of all Brazilian fans. These were the last moments of the second half of the overtime between Palmeiras and Flamengo, the Libertadores da América final. The attacker alviverde Deyverson was trying to buy time when he felt a hand touch his back. Immediately he falls and writhes in pain on the floor, pretending to have suffered an aggression from a flamenguist.

In fact, who had given the slap (a slap, let’s say) was the referee of the match, the Argentine Néstor Pitana. With the World Cup final and the title of best in the world on his resume, the referee showed his flexibility in the bid and ordered to continue. Even today, more than a month after the Libertadores decision, the bid makes him laugh.

“I told him to get up, to get off the ground, and he thought it was a Flamengo player. I told him I wasn’t a player, that it was me, and we followed the game. This is one of those anecdotes we take by throughout his career”, recalls Néstor Pitana, laughing, leaf.

Diplomatic, the Argentine praises the Brazilian players, whom he classifies as the best in the world, and avoids criticizing the mania for simulating fouls. At 46, the referee makes it clear that he wants to be at the World Cup in Qatar, at the end of the year, and that, if it’s up to him, he’ll keep on whistling forever. “They just take me off the field with a stretcher.”

The Argentine is in Brazil at the invitation of the Alagoas Football Federation to give a lecture to all referees in the state, next Thursday (6). He will also participate in an activity on Friday (7). Pitana’s participation is part of the training of referees from Alagoas for the 2022 competitions.

You had a recent experience with two Brazilian teams. What was it like to referee the Libertadores final? Whistling a Libertadores final, after having experience of the World Cup final, was another very important thing. It meant a lot to me to referee a big game between Brazilian teams, Palmeiras and Flamengo, and I enjoyed it since I was assigned to the match until the final whistle. It was a very good experience. I did it with a lot of passion and I accepted the challenge right away. Thank God, the most important thing about a judge’s job is that no one talks about his performance.

There was that unusual situation with Deyverson, who fell after his pat on the back. How was that? (Laughter) It’s a normal game situation. The player is thinking about the end of the game. For me, it was a moment to tell as an unusual story, an anecdote. I don’t see anything else. The referee needs to understand the game situation, the moment the player is living. It’s a moment that happens on the field, but we whistle and let it go, because the player needs understanding. There are many emotions running through the athlete’s head.

I told him to get up, to get off the ground, and he thought he had been a Flamengo player. I told him that I wasn’t a player, that it had been me, and we continued the game. This is one of those anecdotes that we carry throughout our career.

Do Brazilian players simulate a lot of fouls? Is it necessary to be more careful when refereeing games for teams here? The Brazilian player is the best player in the world. You have five World Cups. We have to respect history. They are different cultures in football. Countries change football cultures. As for the players’ attitude, they know they’re being watched by a lot of cameras, so minimal contact sometimes makes the situation a lot bigger. Modern football is like that. The Brazilian player, technically, is the best in the world. I never had any problems with Brazilian teams in that sense.

Your performance in the Libertadores final was highly praised in Brazil, but some Argentine newspapers said that maybe you would leave FIFA. Is there something in that sense, right in a year of the World Cup? For me, I’m forever beeping. The truth is, this situation is not up to me. The federation decides, and it decides whether I continue or not [no quadro Fifa]. If they ask me, I say I’ll stay in 2022, 2023, 2025, 2030… They just take me out of the field with a stretcher. At the moment, I’m thinking about getting to know Alagoas here, enjoying the beaches. In February, the competitions are back and then I can think step by step. Referees are not like selections. Life is different. We don’t know a year before whether or not we’ll be scheduled for a competition, so I still don’t know if I’ll be going to Qatar.

How was the 2018 World Cup final refereeing? It’s hard to talk about it. It’s a memory of when I was a kid, when I got my father’s first soccer ball. I remembered all this. Whistling the final is something amazing because we love football. It’s like touching the sky and clouds with your hands. It’s wonderful that way. I felt the effort and sacrifice were worth it. The biggest prize was refereeing the final.

Did the introduction of the VAR make it difficult for anything in the competition? The VAR is a tool that not only helped the referee, but also football as a whole. The less the interference, the greater the benefit, and I believe we have to keep working to reach that level. For me, nothing has changed. I didn’t have to change much. Equal whistle, with VAR or without VAR. With VAR, there is always a more careful bid that we know we have someone watching to help us. Every game for me is a World Cup final, even a single against a married game. Any match has to be faced like this always.

The first goals of France even created discussions due to the use of technology. In 2018, it was the VAR’s first time in the World Cup and it was the first time it was used in a World Cup final. We have to remember that. We did a lot of seminars, we studied the technology a lot. The result of the World Cup was quite satisfactory, to be honest. It is a technology that we are still adapting to, like everything else in life, and its use has been improving more and more.

Referees are frequent targets of fans in stadiums. Does it make something difficult? This is part of the profession. It’s easier for fans to find problems in refereeing than a move where the club’s own player made a mistake. You need to be calm. We referees know that football is like that and we need to adapt to these situations. There’s no referee who has never heard a “Hey Judge, take it on…” (laughs). But it’s quiet.

What’s your opinion on referee commentators? How could they help the profession to be better understood? I think any analysis of football is welcome. Becoming a referee commentator is a natural path when it comes to retirement and can help you further understand the game. I don’t listen to many analysts, but I understand that there are two ways to get the job done. The first is seriously, analyzing the bids and pointing out errors in a constructive way, so that it is understood by everyone. The other is to create a show, in which the referee is placed as the great villain, for the benefit of the audience. It is a fact that referees also make mistakes. We are human beings.

You’ve been a football player, basketball player, security guard, physical educator… How did you stop at refereeing? Everything you said is linked to the love for the sport. I always had a very strong connection and I always knew that I would work with football at some point in my life. At first I thought I would be a player, then I thought I could be a good instructor. Then a friend asked me if I would be interested in becoming a referee. I thought it was a good idea, I started studying and I’ve been on this road for some years now.

X-RAY

Nestor Fabian Pitana

46 years old (June 17, 1975)
Place of birth: Corpus Christi (Misiones province), Argentina
academic background: physical education
– Best referee in the world in 2018, according to IFFHS
– Referee for the 2018 World Cup final
– Referee for the final of the Copa Libertadores 2013 and 2021
– In the framework of FIFA since 2010